I have grown up being the farmers daughter, but I am not your typical country song farmers daughter. I do not wear short shorts and tank tops with my hair and make up all done, splashing in the creek. Country music has killed the term farmer daughter- please no more songs. Don’t get me wrong, it took me a few years of my dad yelling into the bathroom, “it is not a beauty pageant,” before we would head to the farmer when I was younger, but have come to realize the animals and crops don’t care what your hair or face look like.
So, I decided to go the traditional route and drive the tractors, haul the corn, and bring dad lunch. Most of the time when I see folks and they ask me what I do for a living, I answer that I run a lifestyle blog, am a photographer and farmer with my father. They usually say something like “oh, wow I did not know you farm?” or “what do you do on the farm?” When I answer and say I haul corn or plow ground- they are blown away. Normally you do not think of women running farm equipment or having much knowledge of farming, but I was blessed to be raised opposite of that status. I have been going to the barn with my dad my entire life, started on the dairy in the milk parlor, now has shifted to going to start trucks in the morning and hauling dad around to the next field. Not many girls get to or would even want to work side by side their father but I am a lucky girl to have gotten to. He has never made me feel like since I was a girl, I was not able to do something, he has always believed in me and challenged my opinion when I needed it. He showed me that hard work gets you further than a loud mouth and that there is nothing more rewarding than planting and watching your work grow each and every year.
Being the farmers daughter has shaped me into who I am more than anything I have ever done in my life, and that was something I was born with- sometimes we have to step back and realize the gifts that god has blessed us with instead of trying to pave a path. The good lord needed you a you on this earth so embrace it and run with it!